


The Haunting

by Dreamshaper



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: And angst, But there will be fluff, F/F, I'm quite mean to her in this one, Poor Erin, and an evil ghost, au-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-10-30 08:12:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 18,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10872732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamshaper/pseuds/Dreamshaper
Summary: When Erin Gilbert is eight years old, the mean old lady next door dies, her ghost appears at Erin's bed the following night... and it never stops. Now, twenty-seven years later, a still haunted Erin has ended up in New York, and might finally find a solution for her problem.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this came to me when I was watching Paranormal Activity one bored Friday afternoon, hehe. I had fun writing this, and I hope you'll have fun reading it :D

_Eight_

 

Erin hadn’t been happy that her parents had made her go to the funeral of the mean old lady next door, but she was a good daughter, and so, she had gone; and she had been good, hadn’t fidgeted or complained, not even when she had been bored in church.

She was a good daughter, and so she had been quiet, and calm, and had not fidgeted and had not nagged or complained.

She was still happy when the funeral was over though, and they went back home; and in the years to come, Erin would wonder if it had been this happiness which had led the ghost to her, if the ghost had been attracted by this unfitting emotion and had decided to punish her for it.

Erin awoke that night, and the ghost of their dead neighbour was standing at the foot of her bed; her eyes went wide and she wanted to scream, but couldn’t, couldn’t get enough air into her lungs, and the ghost laughed at her helpless wheezing, and then she opened her mouth wide and spewed blood all over her, and now Erin could scream, and scream she did, she screamed until her parents came running into the room, but by the time they made it there, the ghost was gone.

Erin Gilbert stopped being a good daughter that night.

 

_Ten_

Erin had stopped talking about the ghost – she had given up on it, because no one would believe her anyway – but the damage had been done; her parents saw her as strange on good days and as disturbed and downright crazy on bad ones, and for everyone at school, she was Ghost Girl, the freak who could be used to take out bad moods on and who could be bullied without much repercussion.

She doubted that some of those who called her Ghost Girl even knew her real name.

And the ghost was still there, every night, and Erin just was so tired, but no one would believe her, and so she kept quiet.

 

_Twelve_

For the first time since that one horrible night, Erin was truly, completely happy – because her father had gotten a job, in another state, and they would move. They would move, and she’d finally be away from that horrible school, and away from that horrible ghost.

She was happy during packing her things, and happy during the drive – nobody would know about Ghost Girl at the new school, she could start anew, there would be no bullies and no ghost.

In the middle of the night, she awoke in her new bedroom in their new home, and the ghost was standing there, laughing as she screamed, screamed in terror and disbelief, and her parents came running again, and just like that, her happiness was gone again.

 

_Sixteen_

Erin was tired, always so tired.

She’d stopped screaming at this point when the ghost appeared at the end of her bed, had stopped a few years ago; and she had stopped talking about it, had told her parents what they had wanted to hear, just so she wouldn’t have to go to therapy anymore.

Nobody in this new town, at this new school, knew about Ghost Girl; and still she was alone, people steering clear of her even with no proper reason, as if they could somehow smell that something was wrong with her.

She told herself that she didn’t mind, that this lack of friends in her life meant that she had proper time for her studies; and so, she spent her free time studying, and maybe, she allowed herself to hope, maybe, the ghost will leave her alone when she’ll go to college, maybe it wouldn’t follow her there.

She allowed herself to hope, but that hope wasn’t big.

 

_Eighteen_

The ghost followed her to college – because of course it did, Erin sometimes thought to herself with a certain bitterness – and after she’d screamed four different roommates awake in the first month, the college administration gave her a room of her own.

Clearly, the ghost didn’t like her lack of nightly terror, and upped its game; instead of standing there and spewing blood on her, it had begun to throw things at her, and one memorable night, it even somehow gathered up enough energy to actually flip the mattress and throw her out of bed.

It terrorized her like this every night, until she was a quivering mess, only then, it would leave her alone; she wondered if it would ever go away, and what she would do if it wouldn’t, how she was supposed to have any semblance of a normal life with this apparition plaguing her night after night.

 

_Twenty-five_

Somehow, even though she was always tired and always on edge, Erin had managed to not only get her doctorate, but to land a job, too; and during the first week on said job, one of her colleagues asked her out, and she turned him down – she was still lonely, had no friends, and wanted companionship in her life, but she knew that, as soon as anyone with a romantic interest in her would spend the night for the first time, they’d either be confronted with the ghost, or be woken up by her screams, and she wanted neither of these things to happen.

And so, Erin kept to herself, she had a few acquaintances, people she ate lunch with at work, but she always kept them at arm’s length, never letting anyone get close enough to let a real friendship develop.

This gave her a reputation as weird and antisocial sooner than she would have expected, but she couldn’t find it within herself to care; she went to work, did a good job, spent an evening alone at home, and got terrorized by the ghost each night, and somehow, she existed like this through the years, until she had a positive reputation, as well, one which netted her an invitation to Columbia when a teaching spot got available there.

She went there, because a job at a university like Columbia was too good to not interview for; and part of her, tiny, but there, hoped that perhaps, in a city as big as New York, she might get rid of the ghost, that it might lose her among the masses of people living there.

She got the job, and found an affordable apartment in New York; and during her first night there, the ghost showed up again, because of course it did, and she cried herself to sleep again once it had left her alone for the night.

 

_Thirty-five_

Even though Erin existed in a state of constant tiredness, she had done her job good enough the last ten years that she was on tenure track now; she was still friendless, and hadn’t had a single date all her life, but she told herself that at least, she was successful at her job, an asset to modern physics, she had been called more than once, and even had won several awards.

The ghost was still there, and by now, Erin had resigned to the fact that it would be there for the rest of her life; she had given up hope that it might ever leave, and just sort of lived with it, even getting used to the terror it caused her to feel every night.

Then, one fine Sunday morning, she sat down with the newspaper, and as she opened it, a full page ad caught her eye, and her breath got caught in her throat as she stared at the bold print, unable to believe her eyes, and for the first time in _years_ , Erin dared to hope again.

**Got Ghost?**

**Dr J. Holtzmann – Ghost Hunter**


	2. Chapter 2

Erin had spent almost all of Sunday agonizing over calling Dr Holtzmann, not sure if perhaps, they were a legitimate ghost hunter or just a fraud, eager to take her money for no service; she had never met anyone else who had a problem similar to hers, but then, she had to admit to herself, she never had actively tried to find someone, always having kept the ghost which plagued her every night to herself.

_It’s worth a shot_ , she thought to herself as she laid awake that night, after the ghost had terrorized her again and finally had left once more, _it can’t get any worse, can it?_

And so, in the next morning, the first thing she did when she was alone in her office was to call the number the ad provided; she didn’t even think of doing some research on that alleged ghost hunter first, just eager to find a solution for her ghost problem, and if that person would turn out to be a fraud, then she’d just have to keep on looking.

She was a bit surprised at herself that it hadn’t occurred to her to do this earlier; on the other hand though, she reasoned as she waited for someone to take the call, no one had ever believed her about the ghost, so it shouldn’t be surprising that she hadn’t thought of looking for someone who might actually be able to help her with her problem.

“Dr Holtzmann, Ghost Hunter”, a deep male voice startled her out of these thoughts, “how can we help you?”

“Um, yes, hello”, she gave back, clearing her throat, suddenly nervous – being haunted every single night for the past twenty-seven years certainly hadn’t helped with her anxiety –, “my name’s Erin Gilbert, I, um, I saw your ad… in the paper…”

“Ah yes”, the man replied, sounding quite happy, “how good of you to call! You have a ghost, then?”

“…yes”, Erin told him, almost expecting him to start laughing and ask her if she was serious; instead, he wanted to know what the ghost was doing, and after she had told him, he let her know that they could do an assessment at her apartment and asked for her address.

“I’m home at six”, she added once she had given the information to him, “um, I’ll see you tonight then?”

“Yes”, he confirmed, “it was good talking to you, Miss Hillburt, see you later!”

“It’s Gilbert”, Erin tried to correct him, but he already had hung up; she frowned at the phone, then hung up, as well, staring at her computer screen without seeing much of it as she wondered if that had been the right thing to do.

_Maybe that is some scam to get your address, and tonight, they’ll come to rob you,_ she then thought to herself, grimacing at the thought; then, she figured that now, it was too late to change anything about this anyway, and shrugged it off, trying to focus on her work again, even though she already knew she wouldn’t get much done for the rest of the day, too nervous about whoever would show up at her door later that day.

* * *

Finally, Erin could leave university, and headed to her home; she arrived ten minutes before six, and wondered if these people would be on time – and if it’d be more than one, a team, maybe, or just the man she had spoken to, asking herself if this had been Dr Holtzmann while she made herself some tea, in an attempt to pass the time.

She had been sitting down with the freshly brewed cup for a few minutes when the doorbell rang; practically jumping up from her seat, Erin made her way to the apartment door and peered through the spyhole, finding herself looking at a young man with a slightly vacant expression, frowning to herself before she opened the door.

“Hello…?” she half said, half asked, “um… Dr Holtzmann?”

“I’m Kevin”, he replied, and she recognized his voice from the phone; for a moment, she was dismayed that this apparently wasn’t Dr Holtzmann – he was quite attractive after all – then he stepped aside and let her see the woman who had been standing behind him, and she forgot all about him.

She had been pretty sure that she was bisexual for a big part of her life, but never had thought much about it, thinking that it wouldn’t make a difference anyway – she could take neither man nor woman home with her, after all, and even if she would get into a relationship, sooner or later, that hypothetical significant other would start to wonder why she’d never let them spend the night at her place, and so, she had ignored her attraction to women as much as she had ignored her attraction to men.

As the guy named Kevin stepped aside and revealed the person behind him, the hypothesis _I might also be attracted to women_ turned into a confirmed _I’m definitely attracted to this woman_ within the blink of an eye.

Standing behind him was a young woman, blonde curls held in check in a somewhat crazy up-do, wearing paint-spattered overalls beneath a black leather jacket, blue eyes behind yellow tinted glasses with a steel frame meeting hers; the woman smiled, making Erin’s heart skip a beat, and held out a hand in a fingerless leather glove, her grip surprisingly firm when they shook hands.

“I’m Dr Holtzmann”, she let Erin know, while Erin realized that it would be proper to let go of her hand again and forced herself to do so, “Dr Jillian Holtzmann, but most people just call me Holtzmann. Or Holtz. You’re Erin Hillburt?”

“Erin Gilbert”, Erin told her, wondering if she was blushing since her face felt quite warm, “um, Dr Erin Gilbert. Nice to meet you, Holtzmann, um, do you want to come in…?”

Holtzmann nodded, and Erin stepped aside to let her enter; and while the blonde walked into the apartment, Kevin bent down to pick up a heavy looking duffel bag, then followed her inside, Erin not paying much attention on him anymore though, too fascinated by the young doctor.

“Sorry about the name hiccup”, Holtzmann was saying while she looked around the apartment, “Kevin’s not really good with remembering them. You want us to take off our shoes?”

“No need to”, Erin replied after a brief look at the combat boots the blonde was wearing, figuring it would take her unreasonably long to undo the laces and take them off, “um… shall we sit down in the living room? Would you like something to drink, or to eat? I’m sorry, I’ve never done this before…”

“Water’s fine”, Holtzmann told her with a slight smile, making her wonder if she was really thirsty or if she just had said that to be polite and to give Erin something to do; still grateful for the chance to regain her composure, no matter if the reason had been made up or not, Erin excused herself to the kitchen, filling three glasses with water there before she made her way back to the living room, where Holtzmann was sitting on the couch and Kevin was standing at her bookshelf, inspecting the titles with interest.

“Thank you Dr Hillburt”, he said politely when Erin handed one of the glasses to him; on the couch, Holtzmann shook her head, then reminded him of the fact that Erin’s surname was _Gilbert_ , giving the physicist an apologetic look while she received her own glass and Erin then sat down in the comfortable armchair so that she was facing her.

“Sorry about that”, the blonde said after she had taken a sip of water, “he’ll remember eventually.”

“No problem”, Erin gave back, even managing a weak smile; Holtzmann gave her a much brighter one in response, then put the glass on the table and leaned forward, her forearms resting on her thighs and her hands dangling down between her knees, her somewhat relaxed position in stark contrast to the spark in her eyes when she spoke up again.

“So”, she said, making Erin gulp as she realized that now, the moment of truth had arrived, “tell me about the ghost.”


	3. Chapter 3

“It… it started when I was eight”, Erin decided that starting at the very beginning was probably a good idea, “the mean old lady next door had died, and the night after her funeral, her ghost stood at the end of my bed and… threw up blood all over me.”

She had to pause and take a deep breath – this was the first time in years, _decades_ , that she was telling someone about this, always having kept it a secret ever since her parents hadn’t believed her and had sent her to therapy instead; she briefly wondered if perhaps, Holtzmann shouldn’t be taking notes, then shrugged that thought off, continuing once she had regained her composure.

“It kept doing that every night”, she let Holtzmann know, the blonde looking taken aback as she calculated how long Erin had been haunted by this ghost then, swallowing heavily at the thought of someone going through this for decades, “my parents wouldn’t believe me when I told them, I think they still don’t. Not that I mentioned the ghost to them for a while. We moved when I was twelve, and I was hoping this would end the hauntings but… the ghost didn’t think so, it showed up again right during the first night in the new house.”

“Ah”, Holtzmann let out, nodding, “a haunting not tied to a building then, but to you as a person. I’ll be honest with you, Dr Gilbert, I’ve never dealt with one of those before, but I do know that they happen.”

“Wait”, Erin gave back, unable to hide her surprise, “so… you believe me?”

“Of course I believe you”, Holtzmann replied, with her own look of surprise, “I’m a ghost hunter, and you called me about your ghost problem, so why shouldn’t I believe you?”

Erin just stared at her for a few seconds in reply – before she burst into tears, Kevin turning to look at her in alarm while Holtzmann went wide-eyed, practically jumping up from her seat.

“I’m sorry”, Erin brought out, embarrassed by this outburst, “it’s just… no one’s ever believed me about this before, not even my parents did, and you… you just do?”

“I do”, Holtzmann reassured her, feeling a bit awkward as she reached out to touch the other woman’s shoulder, not sure if the touch would be welcome, rubbing Erin’s back a bit when there was no negative reaction, “as I said, I’m a ghost hunter. It’s my job. And I’ll do everything I can to help you get rid of this, alright?”

“Thank you”, Erin gave back, a little hiccup escaping her afterwards; Holtzmann couldn’t hold back a smirk at the adorable noise, and the physicist blushed a bit, managed a tiny smile of her own though, the blonde patting her back before she pulled back her hand.

“Please don’t cry?” she then said, still feeling a bit awkward, “I hate it to see pretty ladies cry.”

Clearly, Erin hadn’t expected to be called pretty, since she blushed again and cleared her throat; she managed another smile though, wiping her eyes, giving the blonde a thankful look when Holtzmann found an unused tissue in her pocket and handed it to her.

“Sorry”, the physicist then apologized once more, “I just… got a bit overwhelmed. Anyway… That’s pretty much it. That ghost has been haunting me ever since then, it’s gotten more aggressive over the years, it started to throw stuff at me when I was at college and has taken to flipping the mattress over every now and then so I fall out of bed. Apart from that, it hasn’t tried to hurt me though…”

_Not yet,_ Holtzmann thought to herself, but was smart enough to not say this out loud; instead, she just smiled, and nodded, then gestured at the duffel bag Kevin had brought, Erin still a bit amazed at the ease with which the ghost hunter apparently believed her.

“Alright”, the blonde said, “we’ll set up some equipment to get an idea what we’re dealing with, okay? Since the ghost seems focused on you when you sleep, I suggest we put up a camera in your bedroom, unless you’re really uncomfortable with that idea? And audio recording equipment, has it ever spoken to you?”

“No, not really”, Erin gave back, “not that I can remember. It has shrieked at me a few times, but apart from that… And I think I’m fine with a camera? If it doesn’t make noise?”

“It won’t”, Holtzmann reassured her, “maybe if you put your ear right next to it, you can hear a soft whirring sound, but we’ll want it to record as much of your bed and the area around it as possible, so it won’t be close to it. Lead the way to your bedroom?”

Nodding, Erin got up from her seat and did just that, Holtzmann and Kevin following along behind her, the blonde man carrying the duffel bag; once in the bedroom, Holtzmann moved the little table Erin had next to her bed after having checked with the physicist that doing so would be okay, humming to herself as she positioned it where she wanted it.

“You mind if we put on some music?” she then asked, Erin a bit taken aback by this request, but shaking her head; Holtzmann beamed at her, then pulled a rather beat-up looking iPod and small portable speakers from the duffel bag, quickly setting the devices up, some 80’s tune filling the room a short while later, Erin watching in fascination how the blonde made her way back to the duffel back with a series of dance moves, not quite sure what to think of this.

Apparently, this wasn’t the first time that the ghost hunter simultaneously set up equipment and danced, she realized fairly quickly, the way Holtzmann performed a twirl once she had dug the camera from the bag and practically hopped back to the table looking like a sort of well-practiced choreography.

She dropped to her knees just when the singer let out a drawn-out note, making Erin smile when she pulled a dramatic face to go with it; noticing her reaction, Holtzmann winked at her, prompting her face to feel suspiciously warm again, and she was quite glad that Holtzmann was focused on setting up the camera and didn’t notice her blush.

“Alright”, the engineer said after a while, “camera’s all set up. Audio equipment next.”

She danced back to the duffel bag, and Erin found herself smiling again; she wasn’t quite sure if all ghost hunters worked like this, or if it was a Holtzmann thing, but didn’t quite care, either, enjoying the spectacle too much to be put off by it.

Sadly, Holtzmann got done way too quickly, and shut off the music, stowing the iPod and the speakers in the now slightly lighter duffle bag once she had finished; she smiled brightly at Erin as she zipped the bag shut, then checked the camera once more, making sure it recorded the area she wanted on tape, nodding to herself afterwards.

“Alright”, she then said, “all set up. Just act as if the camera isn’t there, it’s unlikely the ghost won’t notice it, but we don’t need to point it out deliberately. Um, unless you sleep naked and change in your bedroom, I don’t want you to think we’re a bunch of voyeuristic creeps.”

“I don’t”, Erin told her, earning another bright smile, “um, thank you… but… we didn’t discuss payment yet…?”

“Our rates are very reasonable”, Holtzmann told her, “and we only take payment when we can solve the ghost problem. So for now, you have nothing to worry about. I’ll drop by tomorrow with my colleague to review the tapes, okay? Same time as today?”

“That’s fine”, Erin nodded, smiling back at Holtzmann when the blonde beamed at her yet again; then, she led the way back to the apartment door, and they shook hands there, Erin feeling confident and hopeful when she closed the door once Holtzmann and Kevin had left, certain that she had taken the first step in the right direction and that somehow, the intriguing blonde would be able to help her to get rid of the ghost which had been plaguing her for so long.


	4. Chapter 4

When Erin woke up in the next morning, she had a few moments to be awed at how refreshed and good she felt, after having slept peacefully through the night for once, for the first time in decades… then she realized what this meant, and her blood ran cold.

For the first time in twenty-seven years, the ghost hadn’t shown up during the night… and so, all that would show up on the tape would be her sleeping peacefully.

_They’ll think you made it all up,_ she thought to herself as she frantically looked around, as if the ghost might still make an appearance, even though it never had done so during the day before, _maybe she believed you yesterday, but she won’t anymore after this, and she’ll pack up her things and leave, and tell other people in that business that you’re a fraud, and no one will be willing to help you and this ghost will haunt you forever…_

Her heart was racing in her chest at this point, and she was breathing heavily, part of her still rational enough to realize that she was having a panic attack, but the realization didn’t help her with handling it easier, her vision blurring when tears filled her eyes.

_You have to call her,_ she realized, her panic only growing, _and tell her, if you wait until she comes by in the evening she’ll certainly think you lied. Call her now and tell her._

She still had trouble breathing, but snatched up her cell phone anyway, and quickly found the card Holtzmann had given her; it had the landline number she had called the previous day, and a cell phone number, and after a moment of consideration, Erin decided to call the cell, hoping that she would end up speaking directly to Holtzmann at this number, not sure she’d be able to handle Kevin, all too aware that the man might not even know who she was when she’d tell him that Erin Gilbert was calling.

_He might if you told him your name is Hillburt,_ she then thought to herself, and that thought, silly as it was, helped her to calm down a bit; she took in a few deep, controlled breaths, then dialled the number, briefly relieved when the call was taken almost immediately and she recognized Holtzmann’s voice.

“Holtzmann, ghost hunter”, the blonde said, and before Erin could think about what she wanted to say, the words burst out of her, as if hearing the ghost hunter’s voice had unclogged some sort of dam.

“It didn’t show up”, she said, running a shaking hand through her hair, “this is the first night in almost thirty years it didn’t show up, it must have noticed the camera or something, I swear I didn’t make it up, please, you’ve got to believe me, I didn’t lie, I…”

“Erin”, Holtzmann finally got a word in, the physicist momentarily impressed that she had recognized her so quickly, belatedly realizing that she hadn’t introduced herself, “Erin, it’s okay. Take a few deep breaths, alright? Can you do that for me?”

Erin wondered, then, if her panic was actually audible through her voice, let out a vaguely agreeing noise though before she did what Holtzmann had suggested; the blonde kept mumbling soothing words to her additionally to her deep, controlled breathing, and to Erin’s astonishment, she felt better quite quickly, able to speak more coherently a minute later.

“The ghost”, she said, with another deep breath, “didn’t show up. I didn’t even realize what was going on at first, I slept through the night for the first time in… way too long. I felt so good when I woke up, but then I realized that the ghost not showing up would mean it also won’t be on the tape, all you’ll see is me sleeping… and maybe snoring… and you’ll think I made it up…”

“I don’t think you made it up”, Holtzmann reassured her, and she felt so relieved that she almost started to cry right then and there, “damn, I probably should have warned you this might happen, I’m sorry. Some ghosts, they don’t show up for a few nights once we set up our equipment, thinking this will fool us into believing they’re not real.”

“Oh”, Erin let out, somewhat surprised by this, having been convinced that Holtzmann would end up not believing her, just like her parents and the number of therapists they had forced her to see, “so… what do you do, then?”

“Nothing”, Holtzmann told her, surprising her again, “we just wait. It’s very unlikely that the camera will keep it away for good, sorry to tell you that, if it’s haunting you specifically, which it appears to do after what you told me yesterday, it’ll be back sooner or later. Just leave the equipment the way it is and call me when it showed up again, alright?”

“Okay”, Erin gave back, feeling much better about the whole situation, “and… sorry for freaking out like that, but I really thought…”

“No problem”, Holtzmann reassured her, making her smile a bit, “you can call me anytime, okay? That’s part of the Holtzmann ghost hunter package.” (It wasn’t, for regular clients, but Holtzmann found Erin very attractive. Not that she had to tell her this, because Erin was her client and she didn’t want to be creepy.)

“Just stick to your routine”, she added, “act as if everything is normal. Well, as normal as things can be with a ghost haunting you every night. And enjoy the extra sleep you’ll get for as long as it lasts, alright?”

“Yes”, Erin sighed, now hoping that the ghost would stay away a few more nights, so she could get a few more uninterrupted nights of perfect slumber, “and thanks again. I’ll call once the ghost made its comeback.”

“Take care until then”, Holtzmann told her, making her smile yet again; she reassured her she would, then ended the call and got ready to go to work, feeling much better about the whole situation now, even though part of her knew that this whole mess was far from over.

* * *

It took three more nights until the ghost finally made a reappearance, either not able to stay away any longer or having decided that the camera wouldn’t be gone anytime soon; and when it did come back, it did so with a vengeance, clearly pissed that it had been more or less forced to stay away for a few nights.

Erin barely had been asleep for half an hour when the ghost showed up for the first time; previously, it often simply had waited for her to wake up, staring intently at her until she’d do so, but this time, it screeched at her in a horribly loud, high-pitched tone, startling her awake, a cry of her own coming from her as her heart raced in her chest.

And for the rest of the night, it kept her awake like that, always waiting until she was dozing off before it’d shriek at her again; by the time the sun came up again, she maybe had gotten an hour of sleep, and felt exhausted and drained, her hand shaking when she dialled Holtzmann’s number.

“It’s back”, she told the blonde after introducing herself this time, voice shaking as much as her hand, “and it kept me up all night this time, I guess it’s angry that it had to stay away for a while. I’m so tired.”

“My colleague and I will be there as fast as we can”, Holtzmann promised in reply, “now we’ll have something to work with. I suppose you’re not going to work today?”

“No way”, Erin gave back at once, rubbing her tired, bloodshot eyes, “I’d fall asleep in front of my class. I’ll be here.”

“Alright, see you ASAP”, Holtzmann replied, then hung up; Erin slumped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling, her eyes feeling grainy and burning a bit, wondering if this was what awaited her every night from now on, and perhaps, if it wouldn’t be smarter to have the equipment removed again, if it would mean that she’d get at least a few hours of sleep each night.


	5. Chapter 5

Half an hour after Erin had called in sick at Columbia, her doorbell rang, and when she got up from her seat on the couch, she momentarily felt dizzy; she closed her eyes and held on the couch’s backrest until the feeling passed, then moved to open, even managing a weak smile when she found herself looking at Holtzmann and a woman she didn’t know, a woman her age, brown hair tied into a loose ponytail at the back of her neck, a friendly smile on her face when she held out one hand and introduced herself.

“Abby Yates”, she said, shaking Erin’s hand, “I work with Holtzmann, I do the physics behind her more sophisticated gadgets.”

“I didn’t bring any of those yet”, Holtzmann threw in, while Erin was, despite her tiredness, quite happy that the blonde had brought another physicist, “but I did bring this.”

She smirked as she held up a paper cup, the smell of coffee reaching Erin’s nostrils, and yet again, she blurted out words before she could stop herself, her tiredness not helping with keeping her impulse control.

“Oh my God you brought coffee I love you”, she said, then realized what she just had told the blonde and shut up, mortified; Holtzmann’s eyes went wide behind the yellow glasses as a blush coloured her cheeks, and Abby snickered, clearly amused by the whole situation.

“Um, I mean”, Erin hurriedly backtracked, feeling her cheeks heat up, as well, “I love coffee. Especially after a night like this so thank you so much for bringing me some. Wait, it is for me, right?”

“It is”, Holtzmann confirmed, her blush slowly fading, to her relief, “figured you could need it after the night you described.”

“Thank you”, Erin sighed, accepting the paper cup when Holtzmann offered it; she stepped aside to let the blonde and Abby enter before she took a sip of it, closing her eyes for a moment in delight – she secretly referred to coffee as her life’s elixir, and with the lack of sleep she’d been dealing with for most of her life, she figured that this wasn’t even much of an exaggeration.

“Alright”, Holtzmann said, after having cleared her throat again, “shall we look at that tape, then?”

Erin nodded, clutching the coffee as she led the way to the bedroom, Holtzmann and Abby right behind her; and while Holtzmann set up her laptop and hooked the camera up to it so the video could be copied to the hard drive, Erin and Abby talked physics, getting along so well so quickly that, for the socially somewhat awkward Erin, it was almost eerie.

Perhaps, she thought to herself, it was so easy to talk to Abby and Holtzmann because they both believed her when she spoke of the ghost; and when Holtzmann got done with her work at the laptop and started last night’s video, Erin somewhat morbidly thought to herself that, with this as proof, certainly, her parents would have to believe her, as well.

The video showed nothing excited at first, just her empty bedroom; then, Erin walked through the picture and laid down, reading for a while – the picture quality was good enough that Abby could see the book’s title and compliment her on it, making her blush as she thanked her – before she closed the book and switched off the light, the camera immediately going into night-vision mode, Erin quite impressed at how seamlessly the picture changed.

“Holtz rigged the camera to do that”, Abby helpfully supplied, “we tried to find one which would do it automatically like that, but there are only a few on the market and they sucked. So Holtzmann made her own.”

“It works really well”, Erin said, giving the blonde a brief smile; Holtzmann smiled back at her, a bit bashfully, then the physicist cleared her throat, and pointed out that they could fast forward half an hour, not wanting to make them sit through thirty minutes of her sleeping.

Nodding, Holtzmann leaned forward and pushed two buttons, the video speeding up; she let it go back to normal speed the moment the ghost had appeared on screen, Abby letting out an impressed “wow” at the sight, both Holtzmann and her recoiling from the laptop when the ghost on screen let out a loud shriek.

“Yikes”, Holtzmann said, grimacing; Erin nodded at once, taking another sip of coffee, in dire need of caffeine, unable to keep the exhaustion out of her voice when she replied.

“It kept doing that”, she let the two women know, fighting to hold back another enormous yawn, “waited until I was almost asleep and then shrieked at me. It has never done that before, and it kept that up all night.”

“Jesus, poor you”, Abby showed sympathy, earning a weak, tired smile from the redhead, “it never did this before, you say?”

“Never”, Erin confirmed, “I didn’t even know it could make noise until last night. Imagine my surprise when it screeched at me, I thought my heart would burst out of my chest.”

It was strangely comforting, she realized, to speak to someone about this, someone who _believed_ her and didn’t think that she was insane or making this up for attention or both; Abby said “wow” again, then flinched as on the screen, the ghost let out another bloodcurdling shriek.

“We will take a closer look at this back at the lab”, Holtzmann said, stopping the video before the ghost could shriek at them again, “try to figure out what class we are dealing with, and then how to handle it. But I got a feeling we’re gonna need the big guns for this one, what do you say, Abberoo?”

“Don’t call me Abberoo, is what I say”, Abby dryly replied, making Erin smile weakly as she could easily tell that this wasn’t the first time they had this exchange, something Abby herself confirmed moments later, “as I have told you a thousand times before. But yes, I agree, we better take this back to the lab, and let Patty have a look, too.”

“Patty is our research specialist”, Holtzmann told Erin, explaining this unknown new person without the physicist having to ask, “and resident history buff. Seriously, she knows everything about every single building in this city, and a million other things. Probably forgot more about history than I ever knew.”

“Which isn’t hard to accomplish”, Abby teased, making the blonde huff, even though the brunette’s smile showed she wasn’t fully serious, giving Erin a smile as well as she went on, “Holtz’ main strength lies in nuclear engineering and building things for our business. History is not so much her forte.”

“I’m awesome at engineering, have to leave something for the rest of you”, Holtzmann smugly replied, shutting down her laptop and packing it up, “Erin, if you agree, we will leave the camera here for now?”

“Sure”, Erin replied, “but I really hope there won’t be a repeat performance of last night. That was exhausting.”

“Try to get some rest”, Abby advised, with a concerned look which touched Erin quite a bit – after all, they barely knew each other, and still Abby showed concern over her well-being like this, “and if anything happens, call us. Day or night, alright?”

“Thank you”, Erin gave back, Abby giving her another smile as she told her not to mention it; and then, they packed up and headed back to their lab while Erin curled up on her couch, soon fast asleep, getting the rest she had missed during the night, the ghost thankfully not making an appearance during daytime.

And as Erin slept, she dreamed of blonde curls, yellow glasses and a dimpled smile.


	6. Chapter 6

“I’m going home”, Abby said later that day, stretching; she had spent the day working on one of Holtzmann’s designs, making sure nothing would go poof when the engineer would make the blueprint a reality, and Patty had been busy researching hauntings like the one Erin was experiencing, none of them having dealt with a ghost which seemed fixated on a person instead of a place in their career so far.

“Don’t stay too long”, Abby warned Holtzmann, while Patty announced that she would head home too and check some of her books there, not really having found anything useful; Holtzmann distractedly told her she wouldn’t, focused on her latest project, a proton stream gun which hopefully would emit a stream strong enough to neutralize a ghost.

Abby was perfectly aware that Holtzmann hadn’t really heard her, but didn’t bother to say something again; she just shook her head to herself with a slight smile as she left, and Holtzmann was alone in the lab – a space they had been allowed to use by Higgins College, under the condition that both Abby and her taught classes a few times each week – not noticing how time went by as she worked, completely lost in her own little world.

She was so focused that at first, she didn’t even hear her phone ring; only after it had blared out the Ghostbusters theme song for a while, she became aware of it, eyes briefly widening when she looked at her watch and saw how late it had gotten – a few minutes past one a.m., and she hoped that it wasn’t Abby who was calling her, knowing she’d get yelled at for staying in the lab so late.

Then, she took a look at the display, and immediately Abby was forgotten as she saw the name flashing there.

_Client E. Gilbert_

Erin calling at this time could only mean one thing, and Holtzmann swiped to take the call so quick, she was surprised she didn’t crack the glass.

“You have to come, please, you have to do something”, Erin immediately started to talk before Holtzmann even could say Hello, “please! Holtzmann please, I need help, it’s going crazy, it’s so violent…”

Erin dissolved into incoherent sobs, and in the background, Holtzmann could hear the ghost screech, and her blood ran cold.

“I’ll be there as fast as I can”, she brought out, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to handle this, her gaze darting back and forth in the lab as she tried to choose a weapon which might help against a ghost this aggressive, “will it let you get to the door so you can let me in?”

“I’m not sure”, Erin whimpered, the sound clenching up Holtzmann’s heart, “I’m in the bathroom now, it’s hammering against the door, I don’t know if I… it attacked me Holtzmann, I’m hurt…”

“Jesus”, Holtzmann let out, too stunned to hold back, not having expected the ghost to escalate so quickly, “okay, never mind, I can pick the lock. I’ll hang up now and get you out of there alright? I’m coming Erin.”

“Okay”, Erin sniffled, Holtzmann reassuring her once more that she’d hurry before she, with a heavy heart, ended the call; she grabbed one of her weapon prototypes from the workbench, then practically ran out of the building and to her car, eager to get to Erin, hoping that she wouldn’t be too late.

* * *

Holtzmann had probably broken a dozen traffic laws during her rush to get to Erin’s apartment, but she couldn’t have cared less, just glad to have made it there in record time; the door was locked, just as she had feared it would be, but that didn’t stop her for long, one of the pins from her hair-do and a bit of fiddling being all she needed to get the door open.

Glad that this was one of her skills, Holtzmann hurried into the apartment, remembering that Erin had said something about having locked herself up in the bathroom; and apparently, she was still there, and the ghost was still keeping her there, as Holtzmann could hear it shriek, the noise followed by a loud thump as it attacked the bathroom door again.

Feeling nervous, Holtzmann pulled on the Ghost Puncher, giving her best to be quiet as she snuck down the hallway; this wasn’t the first time she was facing a malevolent ghost, but she knew how dangerous they could be, especially Class IV or even V apparitions like this one, and the last thing any of them needed was to have her get hurt during an attempt to heroically rescue Erin.

She powered the weapon up, a bit comforted by the low hum it started to emit; still giving her best to be quiet, Holtzmann kept moving, soon spotting a blue-ish glow from the bedroom, remembering that the bathroom was next to it and couldn’t be accessed from the hallway.

At least, the ghost apparently hadn’t noticed her yet, focused on the door; holding her breath, Holtzmann moved as close as she dared, then slammed her fist forward, sending a bright ball of energy from the Ghost Puncher and towards the ghost, the apparition screeching in either anger or pain or both – before it vanished, the fact that it did so without a trace though showing Holtzmann that it was just gone for now and not for good.

“Erin?” she called out after half a minute, time during which she had reassured herself the ghost wouldn’t pop back into existence and attack her, “it’s gone, for now, I think? You can come out now!”

For a few moments, there was no reaction, and Holtzmann’s blood ran cold as she thought back to Erin telling her that the ghost had hurt her, suddenly scared that she had been too slow despite how fast she had driven from the lab to the apartment, and that Erin had been hurt worse than she had let on; and just when she started to feel seriously worried, she heard the key turn in the lock, and the door opened.

And then, Erin was in her arms, crying and shaking and _bleeding_ , and Holtzmann held her somewhat awkwardly and rubbed her back with one hand, the Ghost Puncher still strapped to the other, trying to give her the comfort she so obviously needed.


	7. Chapter 7

A while later, Erin and Holtzmann sat on the physicist’s living room couch; Erin had calmed down, a bit, and was holding an icepack to her bruising eye and swollen lip, the flow of blood from her nose having stopped at this point, but her face still hurt where the ghost had attacked her.

Next to her, Holtzmann was hooking the camera up to Erin’s laptop, not having thought of bringing her own; she figured that the professor’s would do, though, glancing at her every now and then as she worked, easy able to tell how shaken up Erin still was.

Not quite sure what to say or do to make it better – social interactions had never been her best skill, and certainly not comforting upset women she found ridiculously attractive – Holtzmann kept her focus on the laptop; it took a bit of fiddling, but finally, the video was ready to be replayed, and when the images started to flicker over the screen, she could feel Erin tense up next to her, unable to look away though.

Just like the previous video, this one began with Erin walking through the frame, then lying down to read a bit; she switched the lights off not long after and the camera switched to night vision, and this time, it didn’t even take ten minutes for the ghost to appear.

It shrieked at Erin, like during the previous night, and startled her out of her light doze – and then, to Holtzmann’s shock, it flew straight at the physicist, and she could hear the sound of the hit connecting even through the crappy in-built speakers of the laptop, flinching at the sound, fully realizing how hard that ghost had hit Erin.

A soft sniffle from the woman in question distracted her from the video, and she glanced over, alarmed to see that Erin was crying again; clearly embarrassed, the physicist wiped at her face, voice trembling when she spoke up before Holtzmann had the chance to say something.

“I’m sorry”, Erin said, with another sniffle, sounding so miserable that it made Holtzmann’s heart clench up, “I just… I was so scared, I though this is it, now it’s going to kill me, and seeing this again on the video… If you hadn’t come so quick…”

“I’m just glad I could help”, Holtzmann told her, fighting the urge to fidget nervously, not quite sure how to handle crying Erin, “um… is there anything else I can do to help…?”

All Erin wanted was a hug, but she didn’t quite know how to ask for one, and so, she just gave a small shrug; feeling awkward and a bit insecure herself, Holtzmann reached out to touch her shoulder, getting a bit braver when Erin didn’t react negatively to that and putting one arm around her, the redhead reacting at once by practically slumping into her half hug.

Feeling even braver now, Holtzmann made it a proper embrace, holding her close and rubbing her back; and Erin pretty much melted at the contact, burying her face in the other woman’s shoulder, clearly not caring that they didn’t even know each other for long as a tremble ran through her.

“Sorry”, Erin realized a bit belatedly that this wasn’t exactly appropriate, “I just… I got really scared…”

“It’s okay”, Holtzmann reassured her, hoping that Erin hadn’t noticed how having her so close had made the engineer’s heart race, scolding herself for finding the physicist so attractive, and reminding herself of the fact that Erin was her client, “it’s gone for now, but… It’s escalating quickly, who knows what it might come up with tomorrow night. Maybe one of our team should stay with you…”

“Can you do it?” Erin blurted before she could stop herself – she would have been fine with Abby staying, too, but she hadn’t met Patty yet, and while Kevin had seemed nice enough, she wasn’t sure he’d be much help, and the thought of having Holtzmann, whom she found quite attractive, stay the night was most appealing to her.

“Sure”, Holtzmann gave back at once, to her obvious relief, “I, um… if you want me to, I can stay here for the rest of tonight, too? And you can come to the lab with me tomorrow if you don’t want to go to work but don’t want to be here alone?”

“That would be nice”, Erin said immediately, not even having to think about this for a second; there was no way she would go to work with a black eye and split lip, and going to the lab would be more interesting than sitting around at home all day, and perhaps, she thought to herself, she might even be able to help with a few things, figuring that her knowledge about particle physics could be quite useful for the team.

“Alright”, Holtzmann said, with a bright smile which made Erin feel decidedly warmer and better, “great. Um, you should get some more rest, I imagine you can need some sleep… The ghost shouldn’t come back tonight, I landed a pretty good hit, but one never knows, so I’ll keep the Ghost Puncher close.”

“Yes, better to be safe than sorry”, Erin agreed, feeling her cheeks heat up at the thought of the engineer spending the night at her home; she wondered if Holtzmann could tell that she felt attracted to her, and if the blonde found her attractive, too, but knew better than to outright ask, clearing her throat instead before she made a vague gesture at the couch.

“You can sleep here, if you like”, she added, figuring that offering to share the bed would _definitely_ be too forward, “I, um, I can borrow you a shirt or something?”

“That would be nice”, Holtzmann smiled, Erin smiling back at her somewhat shyly before she got up from the couch and let the engineer know that she’d get her everything she’d need to sleep; able to tell that the physicist felt somewhat awkward, Holtzmann just nodded, then kept herself busy by removing the camera from Erin’s laptop and shutting the laptop down, Erin coming back just when she got done with this task, barely able to peer past the blanket and pillow she was carrying, an oversized t-shirt precariously balancing on top of that pile.

“Oh wait let me help”, Holtzmann offered, practically jumping up from the couch and hurrying to the physicist’s aid; and as she moved to take the pile from the redhead, her hands landed right on Erin’s, and she quite clearly heard the professor take in a sharp breath, wondering if she had felt the same flash of warmth right to her core Holtzmann herself had experienced.

“Thank you”, Erin said, with an audible hitch in her breath, making it clear to Holtzmann that the redhead had felt _something_ ; not wanting to come on too strong, but also not wanting Erin to think that she was the only one who had felt it, Holtzmann gave her the most charming smile she could put on, holding back the urge to squeak in giddy delight when Erin blushed visibly.

“I think you got everything you need, right”, the professor said, cheeks still bright red and her words coming out faster than usual, “or do you need anything else? Then I can get it for you, no problem.”

“No it’s perfect, thank you”, Holtzmann reassured her, feeling a bit bad for her now as it was quite obvious that Erin felt very awkward in this very moment, “so, um… good night?”

“Good night!” Erin replied quickly, then turned and all but rushed to her bedroom; Holtzmann watched her go, then readied the couch for the night before she pulled on the t-shirt Erin had given her, thinking of the physicist’s bright blue eyes and adorable smile until she drifted off into sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

When Erin awoke in the next morning, she immediately was reminded by the events of the previous night as her face stung from the moment on she opened her eyes; and when she made her way to the bathroom and got a look at herself in the mirror, she grimaced, as quite the impressive bruise had formed around one eye while she had been asleep, her lip swollen, as well, evidence of the hit the ghost had landed.

This only strengthened her decision to not go to work that day, either, but to spend the day with Holtzmann at the lab, as the engineer had suggested; she didn’t really have any friends at Columbia, but still worried that her colleagues would ask what had happened to her face, and had no idea how to explain it without sounding like a total lunatic.

The sound of movement from the living room distracted her from these thoughts, and she figured that it was Holtzmann waking up; and after another unhappy look at the mirror, Erin made her way to the living room, where the engineer indeed was just sitting up on the couch, blinking sleepily, but smiling at her when Erin entered the room and their eyes met.

“Good morning”, Erin said, managing a slight smile of her own, “I hope you slept well, I know that couch is not the comfiest to sleep on…”

“It’s alright”, Holtzmann reassured her, stretching as she spoke, “I’ve slept in worse places. Like the floor of my lab. The ghost didn’t show up again, did it?”

“No, thankfully”, Erin replied with a grimace, holding back a wince as the expression sent a flash of pain through her head, “who knows what it might have done this time, after how it attacked me…”

Holtzmann gave her a sympathetic look, earning a weak smile from the professor; then, Erin offered to let her use the shower first while she’d make coffee, and Holtzmann was happy to accept that offer, making her way to the bathroom once she had collected her clothes and Erin had told her where she could find clean towels.

While Holtzmann was showering, Erin moved to the kitchen, making coffee there; she didn’t usually eat breakfast at home, only having something once she was at work, and she wondered if she should prepare anything for Holtzmann, then decided against it, as she realized that she had no idea what the engineer liked to eat.

Feeling a bit awkward, since this was the first time in decades that someone had stayed the night, Erin sat down at the kitchen table, fingers fidgeting as she heard the shower run from the bathroom; Holtzmann got done fairly quickly, and joined her in the kitchen, wearing the same clothes she’d had on the previous day, her hair still wet, but already done up again, her eyes lighting up behind her glasses when Erin gestured at the coffee machine.

“Coffee’s all done”, the physicist let her know, feeling a bit awkward still, but telling herself that it’d be fine, “help yourself while I take a shower, milk’s in the fridge and sugar in that cupboard over there. Oh, and mugs are in there.”

“Thanks”, Holtzmann smiled at her, making her smile back before she moved to the bathroom; she made sure to get done quickly, not wanting to make Holtzmann wait for her too long, and not bothering to put on any make-up, figuring that it wouldn’t do much good anyway, what with her split lip and her black eye.

It didn’t take her long to get done and join Holtzmann in the kitchen; the engineer was halfway done with her coffee by the time Erin sat down with her own mug, shrugging when the blonde asked her how she was feeling.

“My face hurts”, she then said truthfully, grimacing as she was all too aware of how she looked, “which isn’t really a surprise, seeing how hard that ghost smacked me.”

“Poor you”, Holtzmann showed sympathy, “we have some painkillers in the lab, in case it gets too bad.”

“I hope that won’t be necessary”, Erin replied with another look of dismay, earning a shrug and wry smile from the blonde; after a moment, she smiled back at the younger woman, even though it made her lip and the bruise around her eye hurt, then finished her coffee fairly quickly, eager to get going, still feeling kind of awkward, once more all too harshly reminded of how much the ghost had stunted her chances for proper social interaction.

“I’m sorry”, she apologized, realizing she had just been sitting there staring at her coffee for a while, “I’m… really not good at this. I think I had a sleepover the last time when I was seven.”

She let out a nervous little laugh, all too aware of how pathetic this probably just had sounded; to her relief though, the look Holtzmann gave her in response wasn’t one of judgement or contempt, but simple sympathy, the engineer surprising her moments later by reaching across the table and briefly, but gently touching her hand, sending a jolt up and down her spine.

“We’ll get rid of that ghost”, the engineer then promised her, making her smile weakly as well, “and then you can have all the sleepovers you missed when you were a teenager.”

“Sounds good”, Erin replied with another smile, holding back a comment about how she wouldn’t know whom to invite, anyway; the blonde smiled back at her brightly, then finished her coffee and asked Erin if she was ready to go, earning a nod from the physicist before she drained her own mug, the two of them heading out a short while later, Erin looking forward to the day at the lab, curious to see more of Holtzmann’s work and the things the blonde was building.

* * *

Thankfully, Erin thought to herself, Holtzmann had taken her car to get to her apartment the previous night, sparing her the indignity of having to ride the subway with her black eye and split lip; and the drive didn’t take long, either, Holtzmann parking the car at the Higgins parking lot not even half an hour after they had left Erin’s apartment.

“I apologize in advance for the mess”, Holtzmann said as she led the way to the lab, “Abby and Patty keep scolding me for my chaos, but it makes my mind thrive.”

This didn’t surprise Erin the slightest, and she smiled, earning a bright grin in reply which made her heart skip a beat; it still stunned her a bit how strongly she reacted to the engineer, how insanely attractive she found her, feelings which only seemed to grow the longer she knew her instead of lessening.

She wondered if she’d ever find the courage to do something about those feelings – and if she’d have the chance to, because while Holtzmann was nice to her, and seemed to genuinely care for her well-being, Erin was all too aware that reading other people wasn’t one of her skills, and, in the end, she still was Holtzmann’s client – and so, she had to brace herself for the possibility that, once the ghost had been taken care of, the engineer would be out of her life again as fast as she had entered it.

“Good morning”, Holtzmann cheerily greeted her colleagues, tearing Erin out of her thoughts; she already had met Abby and Kevin, and thus immediately figured that the other women in the lab had to be Patty, impressed by said woman’s tall frame, and feeling like shrinking at the way Patty’s eyebrows shot up as she got a look at Erin’s face.

“Oh jeez, babygirl”, she then said, her look turning into one of sympathy, Erin not quite sure what to think of this, since they hadn’t met before this very moment, “the ghost do that to you?”

“Yes”, Erin replied, for a moment sure that Patty was mocking her, so used to people not believing her about the ghost, only realizing that the emotion was genuine when Patty gave her another sympathetic look.

“I got it all on video”, Holtzmann threw in, putting her duffel bag down next to her workbench somewhat carefully, mindful of the Ghost Puncher she’d stored within said bag, “it looks as awful as those bruises imply.”

“This is a new level of aggression, isn’t it”, Abby wanted to know, with a concerned look at the physicist, “it has never done that before, right?”

Erin shook her head, feeling oddly giddy at speaking to three people who believed her and didn’t call her crazy or Ghost Girl, giving Holtzmann a grateful look as she replied, her words prompting the engineer to clear her throat and scratch the back of her neck somewhat sheepishly.

“Holtzmann pretty much rescued me”, the physicist said, missing the way Abby raised an eyebrow at the engineer, “if she hadn’t come so fast, who knows what else that ghost would have done. I’d locked myself in the bathroom and Holtzmann chased it off with one of her weapons, while it was banging on the door.”

“With the Ghost Puncher”, Holtzmann added, unlike Erin intentionally missing the look Abby shot her, a silent reprimand for using a weapon they hadn’t tested properly yet, “I landed a pretty good hit, too. It vanished, but I’m fairly sure it’ll come back.”

“You know what’s weird”, Abby pondered, frowning, “why would the ghost bang on the door, if it could just go through it? Or materialize in the bathroom?”

“I think I have the answer to this”, Patty was the one to answer, while Erin could only shrug, never having been faced with this level of aggression from the ghost before; all attention focused on Patty, and she cleared her throat, then gestured at her laptop.

“I’ve done research on this sort of haunting”, she let them know, making Abby and Holtzmann nod since they both had known what Patty had been working on, “they don’t happen often, but there are a few documented cases where the ghost was after a specific person and not tied to a location.”

This made Erin feel even better, the reassurance that she wasn’t crazy and not alone with her problem after decades of no one believing her; Patty apparently sensed all or at least some of this, giving her a brief, but bright smile before she continued.

“That ghost could have just popped up in the bathroom if it had wanted to”, Patty let them know, making Erin frown again as with that new knowledge, the ghost’s behaviour made even less sense, “but it didn’t. Because actually physically harming you is, in the long run, not what it wants.”

“Then what does it want?” Holtzmann wanted to know, frowning; Patty gave Erin a somewhat sympathetic look, then replied, her words making the physicist’s blood run cold.

“It’s like a parasite”, Patty told the other three, “if it’s anything like the ghosts documented in these other cases, and it sounds just like one of those. It feeds off of your fear, Dr Gilbert, and unless we get rid of it, it is never going to leave you alone.”


	9. Chapter 9

After Patty’s unpleasant revelation, Erin had felt quite dismayed and down, but the three women had given their best to cheer her up again; and now, a few hours later, she did feel better, as she was working with Abby on some calculations for Holtzmann, a bit surprised by how well she worked with the other physicist – she had worked with others before, at Columbia and her previous jobs, but the secret about the ghost she’d always had to keep from them had made it somewhat awkward, and with Abby, things just were so easy.

And clearly, Abby shared her view, joking and giggling with her as they worked together; by the time the group got hungry and ordered lunch, Erin felt as if she had known the other woman for years, feeling as comfortable and relaxed around her as she did with Holtzmann.

“You know”, Abby said just as Erin pondered these things, “if you ever get sick of working at a stuffy place like Columbia, feel free to give us a call. We can always need another physicist on the team, and Holtz would be super thrilled to work with you, too.”

Erin went wide-eyed at this and felt her cheeks flush, wondering if her attraction to Holtzmann was that obvious; a quick glance at the engineer showed her though that the comment had been directed more at the blonde then at her, Holtzmann staring at the weapon she was working on with stubborn concentration – and a light blush colouring her cheeks, making it quite clear that she had heard what Abby had said.

“Thanks”, the physicist said once her own blush was fading again, “for the offer. I’m not planning to leave Columbia for now but if it ever does happen…”

“Then you’ll give us a call”, Abby finished for her with a bright smile, to Erin’s relief not upset the slightest about the physicist’s words; Erin nodded and smiled back at her, then focused on the task at hand again… for about a minute, then she had the odd feeling that someone was staring at her.

She looked up, and Holtzmann looked back down on her work, just a second too late though; and again Erin could have sworn she saw the engineer blush, and from the way Abby grinned next to her, she clearly had noticed _something_ going on as well.

Not even half an hour ago, she would have thought that it was simply her attraction to Holtzmann which was obvious and made Abby grin; at this point though, thanks to the engineer’s blushing, she was quite sure that said attraction wasn’t one-sided, and figured that Abby was reacting more to this than to her feelings, considering that she knew Holtzmann much better than Erin and could read her much easier.

She wondered if she should do something about this apparently mutual attraction, or if she should wait until she wasn’t Holtzmann’s client anymore; not too long ago, she would have thought that she’d never see the blonde again once the ghost had been taken care of – if they could take care of it, she had to admit to herself that it was possible for this whole thing to end with a failure – but now, she wasn’t so sure anymore, and that only grew when she caught Holtzmann staring at her again.

She felt herself blush, but this time, neither Abby, nor Patty reacted to her reddening cheeks; acting as if nothing was going on, Abby pulled up another file on her laptop, pointing out an equation she had been having trouble with for a while, sounding a bit abashed when she admitted to Erin that she had been trying to solve this for weeks, to no avail.

“And Holtzmann is getting antsy”, she added, earning a huff from the blonde engineer, “cause she wants to use these numbers for proton pistols. We tried telling her that this is dangerous, but she won’t listen.”

“Because it’ll be awesome”, Holtzmann gave back, nodding as if to underline her own words, “and you know I’m right. Sooooo Erin, if you can solve this, you’ll have my undying love and devotion.”

“Oh”, Erin let out, blushing brightly yet again; realizing belatedly what she just had said, Holtzmann went wide-eyed, didn’t take it back though, smiling a bit bashfully instead before she bent over her project again.

Erin’s cheeks still felt flaming hot, but she had quite the motivation as she looked at the file Abby had opened; the brunette watched her in silence as she brooded over the equations, frowning every now and then, scribbling on the notepad Abby had provided her with, her frown deepening as she realized that this would be harder to crack than she initially had thought. 

As it often happened when she worked on something like this, Erin soon forgot the world around her, fully focused on the equation and on solving it; she got so lost in the task that she neither noticed how the other three were watching her in fascination, unaware of the impressed look Abby and Patty had on their faces as she worked through the equation using both the laptop and the notepad and of the look on Holtzmann’s face, which was one of pure, undiluted admiration.

Unaware of how Holtzmann was looking at her every now and then, even once the engineer had forced herself to focus on her own work again, Erin kept working through the numbers and calculations; and she was just as unaware of how much time passed, until Abby tentatively interrupted her to let her know lunch had been delivered, Erin looking a bit startled for a moment, then smiling sheepishly as she nodded.

“I think I almost got it”, she told Abby as the two women joined Patty and Holtzmann at the lunch table, Patty already distributing the food, “so, Holtzmann, maybe, you can build these proton pistols soon.”

“Undying love and devotion”, Holtzmann simply said in reply, making Erin blush again; she didn’t look away though, but smiled at the engineer, the blonde beaming back at her, neither of them noticing how Abby and Patty exchanged a knowing look at their interactions.

* * *

It took Erin another two hours, but she did crack the equation; and when she, with a bit of pride, presented her results to the other three, Holtzmann surprised and delighted her by throwing both arms around her for a tight bearhug, earning a mixture of squeal and giggle from the physicist.

“Awesome, excellent”, the engineer gushed as she looked at Erin’s work, Abby nodding along, quite impressed – she was good at modern physics, as the weapons and tools Holtzmann had built with her help proved, but this was some top level work, and while she was confident that she would have cracked the problem too sooner or later, she knew it would have taken her quite a bit longer than the time Erin had needed.

“You’re a genius”, Holtzmann went on, and Abby nodded again, while Erin blushed and cleared her throat; she mumbled something about how she just was happy she had been able to help, smiled a bit again though when Holtzmann practically bounced back to her workbench.

“I gotta get to work on this immediately”, she declared, the project she had been busy with until this very moment forgotten, “cause then we can kick the ass of that ghost haunting you into the next century. Whooo!”

Erin just had to laugh at her excitement, and Holtzmann beamed back at her; and if they had been alone in the lab at this moment, the physicist realized, she possibly would have grabbed and kissed her, and her cheeks heated up again as she watched the blonde work, knowing she would never bring up the courage to do this with Abby and Patty in the lab – and not quite sure if this was a good or bad thing.


	10. Chapter 10

In the evening, Holtzmann went home with Erin again, a bit miffed that she hadn’t managed to finish the proton pistols in time; she did bring the Ghost Puncher again though, just in case, and Erin was thankful that the engineer was willing to spend another night at her place, not sure how she would have handled it, had the ghost shown this level of aggression again while she was alone with it.

They picked up dinner on the way home, from Erin’s favourite pizzeria – the physicist reacting with mock disgust when Holtzmann got pepperoni and pineapple on her half of the pizza – then got comfortable on the couch; while they ate, they watched a documentary on TV, then Holtzmann made sure all the equipment was set up and working, checking the Ghost Puncher as well, figuring it’d be better to be safe than sorry.

“I’ll sleep on the couch again, if that’s fine with you”, the engineer said once she had reassured herself that the weapon was perfectly functional, “but I’d suggest you leave your bedroom door open in case the ghost attacks you again? I have a light sleep, if it makes noise, that should be enough to wake me.”

“Okay”, Erin gave back, just glad that she wouldn’t have to face this new level of aggression from the ghost all on her own, and suddenly eager to let Holtzmann know how good this was making her feel, blushing a bit as she went on, “and, um… thank you. For doing all this, I know it’s your job but I really appreciate having you here…”

Her blush deepened as she trailed off and stared down onto her hands, not sure if she had made it clear how much this actually meant to her; apparently though, Holtzmann was aware of it, smiling at her as she reached out and placed a tender hand on the other woman’s forearm, their eyes meeting when Erin looked up again.

“Nothing to thank me for”, Holtzmann reassured her, “I’m glad if I can help.”

Erin smiled shyly at her, feeling her heart skip a beat when the younger woman beamed back at her; and all at once, she just knew that she would do what she already had thought about back at the lab now, that she’d grab Holtzmann and kiss her… and just when she worked up the courage to do so, Holtzmann’s phone beeped loudly in her pocket, making the blonde flinch and completely ruining the moment.

“Sorry”, the engineer said, flushing, the healthy colour of her cheeks making Erin wonder if she had realized how close the physicist had been to kissing her, “that’s either Abby or Patty texting me.”

She dug out her phone, and Erin hid her disappointment well, forcing a smile onto her face; the moment Holtzmann was focused on her phone though, the smile vanished, and she swallowed heavily, asking herself if she’d find that sort of courage again or if this had been her one and only chance and if it was gone forever now, realizing with a flash of dismay how woefully unprepared the lonely life she had led so far had left her for situations like this one.

* * *

As Erin laid awake in bed hours later and listened to Holtzmann’s soft snoring from the living room, she found herself thinking about how drastically different her life had become ever since she had dialled the phone number from that advertisement; she had had more fun during the one day in the lab than she’d had at Columbia ever since she had begun working there, and with Holtzmann, she apparently had someone in her life who desired her, and she desired the engineer, as well – and Holtzmann knew about the ghost, and believed her, which removed one of the biggest obstacles she’d had about finding friends or a lover for a big part of her life.

She sighed and rolled over, and nearly screamed, because the ghost was standing next to the bed instead of its end this time, looking back at her with such hatred and malice that it made her blood run cold.

“Send them away”, the ghost hissed, speaking to her for the first time, her eyes going wide, “send them all away. Send them away or I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all and bathe you in their blood.”

The ghost’s face morphed into the hateful grimace Erin had seen every single night of her life, and she almost expected the apparition to smack her again; instead, the ghost shrieked at her – and then grabbed her and _threw_ her,          her startled cry cut off when she hit the wall at the opposite end of the room.

The ghost vanished a second after she had fallen to the carpet and had curled up into a ball there, in a helpless attempt to protect herself from another attack; she whimpered as she heard hurried footsteps approach, only realizing that it was Holtzmann when she heard the engineer frantically say her name.

“Erin”, the blonde tried again when the physicist didn’t react at first, kneeling down next to her, “are you hurt? Do you need an ambulance?”

She reached out to touch Erin’s back, alarmed when the physicist tried to curl up even tighter in response; she tried to figure out if Erin was hurt, a bit relieved that there was no blood visible anywhere, but she had heard the low thump with which Erin had hit the wall, and was all too aware that the physicist might have broken something when the ghost had attacked her yet again.

Then, Erin raised her head, and Holtzmann saw the tears running down her cheeks, and her heart clenched up.

“I can’t do this anymore”, the physicist sobbed, practically throwing herself into the other woman’s arms and clinging to her so tight that it hurt, sobbing so violently that her whole body was trembling, “I can’t… Holtz I can’t…”

“It’s gonna be okay”, Holtzmann said the only thing she could think of, even though she knew it was a meaningless phrase, “I promise, once the proton pistols are finished—”

“It said it’d kill you all”, Erin interrupted her, only crying harder while all Holtzmann could do was stare at her, “if I didn’t send you away, it’d kill you all… and now you’ll leave, because you’ll have to leave if you don’t want it to kill you and… and I’ll have no one again, it let me see what it’d be like to have friends for a few days and now it’s taking that away and I can’t even blame you…”

“Erin, no”, Holtzmann gave back at once, prompting the physicist to look up at her, her teary, reddened eyes making her heart clench up again, “I’m not going anywhere. Okay? You think this is the first ghost which tries to scare me, my team, off? I promise, I’m not going anywhere.”

She gave in to a sudden impulse and gently kissed Erin on the cheek, allowing herself to forget for a moment that Erin was still her client and that kissing her, no matter if it was on the cheek or on the lips, perhaps wasn’t the best idea; and to her relief, it seemed to calm Erin down a bit, the physicist’s breath hitching – before she suddenly grabbed Holtzmann, pulled her closer and kissed her right on the mouth, and with quite the fervour, too.

Holtzmann kissed her back at once, unable to resist despite the fact that Erin was her client; she had found the redhead attractive from the moment on she had seen her for the first time, and kissing her only made that attraction grow, the engineer struggling to hold back a moan when the kiss deepened, almost automatically pulling Erin even closer.

“...I’m not sure I’m allowed to do that”, she mumbled after the kiss, earning a startled look from Erin, and quickly clarifying before the physicist could get upset again, “I mean, because you’re my client!”

“Oh”, Erin let out, having to admit that this was a good point; Holtzmann smiled at her, and moved one hand to gently wipe the tears off her face, her next words making the physicist smile slightly again, as well, and instantly made her feel better about the whole situation.

“That ghost is not gonna scare me off”, Holtzmann reassured her again, “especially not now. I promise. On the contrary, I’ll make sure we’ll kick its butt quickly, so I can take you out on a proper date. How does that sound?”

“Perfect”, Erin mumbled, relaxing in the engineer’s embrace; smiling, Holtzmann kept holding her close, and rubbed her back, determined to take care of the ghost quickly so she could keep the promise she just had made.


	11. Chapter 11

When Erin woke up in the next morning, she at first was simply relieved that the ghost hadn’t made another appearance during the night; then, she thought back to what had happened in the middle of the night, to how she had kissed Holtzmann and how the engineer had kissed her back, and to the blonde’s promise of taking care of the ghost quickly so she wouldn’t be working for Erin anymore and could take her out on a proper date.

She wondered how she should act now, if she should pretend that the kiss hadn’t happened and act simply as the person who had hired Holtzmann until the ghost had been taken care of; this didn’t quite feel right to her, but then, Erin had to admit to herself, she had no idea how to handle such situations, never having had the chance to learn, with how she had kept people at arm’s length all her life so they wouldn’t learn about the ghost.

Holding back a sigh, Erin sat up in bed and ran both hands through her hair; she heard noise from the living room which indicated that Holtzmann was waking up, and her heart skipped a beat as she tried to figure out what to do now, how to behave.

Then, she realized that most likely, Holtzmann knew better how to handle such situations than she did, and decided to just wait and see how the engineer would act; she took in a deep, controlled breath to steel herself, then got out of bed and made her way to the living room, her heart leaping up to her throat again when Holtzmann’s eyes met hers as she entered and the blonde immediately smiled at her.

“Good morning”, Holtzmann greeted her, getting up from the couch and walking to meet her, Erin feeling like letting out a whoop of joy when the engineer’s hands slipped around her waist, managing to hold the noise back, but unable to do so with the goofy grin which curled her lips, “slept well after our ghost friend made another appearance?”

“Yes”, Erin told her, still smiling, only feeling happier when Holtzmann beamed back at her, “all thanks to you.”

“Happy to hear”, Holtzmann smirked, then made Erin’s heart sing by pulling her closer, their lips meeting in a fairly innocent and gentle kiss; the redhead kissed her back at once, unable to hold back a small, but content sigh, blurting out her next words before she could stop herself once they had pulled apart again.

“You know, yesterday was kinda sorta my first real kiss”, she blurted out, Holtzmann giving her a look of surprise, Erin blushing deeply and feeling mortified as she realized what she just had said.

“The ghost?” Holtzmann asked before the physicist had to clarify though; still blushing, but feeling a bit better as the engineer was looking at her with compassion and no judgement or contempt, Erin nodded, clearing her throat before she spoke up again, her gaze dropping down to the carpet beneath her feet as she talked.

“I never… you know, let anyone get… close enough”, she told Holtzmann, not really telling her anything new, but the engineer figured that Erin had to get this off her chest, and didn’t interrupt her, “all my life I kept everyone at arm’s length. I’d make acquaintances, but never friends, and certainly not… anything romantic. It was easier that way, it lowered the risk that someone would end up spending the night and seeing the ghost… or that I’d end up telling them about it and they’d think I’m crazy. I kissed a guy once before, in college, one of the few times I went out to a frat party, so we were both drunk and it wasn’t that great. Kissing you though… that was much better.”

Her blush deepened again, but to her relief, Holtzmann just gave her another happy, wide smile; the engineer’s hands slid from her waist to her back, and they kissed again, the idea about having to take care of the ghost clearly forgotten by both at this point, and Erin couldn’t remember a time in her life when she had been happier.

* * *

Once again, Erin didn’t go to work, but went to the lab with Holtzmann again; her eye was still heavily bruised after all, and while the swelling of her lip had gone down, the cut was still all too visible, and she had no interest in answering awkward questions about what had happened to her face.

To her joy, Abby and Patty were happy to see her again, greeting her joyfully and with enthusiasm; no one had ever greeted her at Columbia like that, and it made her feel oddly warm inside, even though she blushed again when Abby took one look at the way Holtzmann and Erin were holding hands and raised an eyebrow, then shook her head, letting out a noise of dismay, Erin’s heart immediately starting to race as she couldn’t help but wonder if this meant that Abby didn’t approve of this relationship, or whatever it exactly was.

Then, Abby glared at Holtzmann, and Erin felt even worse… until Abby spoke up, and the physicist nearly let out a sigh of relief.

“Holtz!” Abby said, shaking her head, while Patty cackled, to Abby’s clear consternation, “you couldn’t wait a bit longer?! Now I owe Patty a whole week of lunch!”

“Serves you right for betting”, Holtzmann shot back, while Erin wasn’t quite sure what to think of the two women apparently having some sort of bet going on about Holtzmann and herself, but Holtzmann didn’t seem to mind much, only rolling her eyes at the way Abby huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Don’t get huffy, girl”, Patty said, nudging her and grinning, “your own fault for thinking they would wait much longer, after the heart-eyes they made at each other all day yesterday.”

“Hmph”, Abby let out, then, from one moment to the next, smiled brightly at Erin, “but, well, I guess congratulations are in order? Let me tell you, Holtzy’s a good egg, no matter how much she’s glaring at me right now.”

“Stop”, Holtzmann grumbled, blushing a bit; Abby just shot Erin a smirk, as if to say _See what I mean?_ , and Erin found herself giggling, earning another smirk and a wink from the other physicist, Holtzmann grumbling again before she kissed Erin on the cheek, then moved on to her workbench, the physicist blushing a bit again at this display of affection, but figuring that it was okay, since Abby and Patty just smiled and seemed genuinely happy for the engineer and her.

“I want to get these babies done today”, Holtzmann let her colleagues know as she gestured to the proton pistols, “so I can take them to Erin’s place tonight and take care of that ghost. Because I promised her a proper date once it has been dealt with!”

“No offense, Erin”, Abby replied, her smile showing she wasn’t quite as serious as Erin might have thought – and feared – otherwise, “but I hope Holtz did not tell you that a date would be payment enough.”

“No, she didn’t”, Erin replied with a small laugh, while Holtzmann huffed again, “actually, we sort of tried to be reasonable about this? And, um, not… start anything as long as I’m still the client of you guys, but…”

“Yeah, with how you looked at each other, that surely worked, for like two seconds”, Patty commented, earning a snicker from Holtzmann while Erin blushed again; the researcher gave her a cheeky grin, then went back to work, and as Erin moved to help Abby once more, she felt oddly at home and content, thinking back to what Abby had said about the team having a place for her, should she ever leave Columbia, a thought which suddenly didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore.


	12. Chapter 12

Early in the afternoon, Holtzmann had taken a nap, eager to stay awake all night or at least until the ghost made an appearance so she could take care of it; this meant that she hadn’t had a chance to test the proton pistols, to Abby’s consternation and worry, but she was confident that they would work, pointing out that Erin’s calculations were flawless – as far as she could tell – and that certainly, the calculations combined with her engineering skill had created a weapon which would work just the way she wanted it to.

“If you blow yourself up”, Abby had told her as she had watched Holtzmann pack up the pistols and, just to be on the safe side, the Ghost Puncher, “I’ll summon your ghost just so I can sing _I told you so_ at you, and if you blow Erin up with you, I’ll use that Ghost Puncher to kick your spectral ass.”

“I tell you, they are safe”, Holtzmann had given back, and had made Erin blush with what she had said next, “you think I’d endanger Erin like this? Not if I want to take her out on a date once the ghost has been taken care of.”

“Just take care”, Abby had instructed her, and her gaze had softened, showing that there was genuine concern behind her dismay; Holtzmann had reassured her that she would, and now, as she sat in the dark apartment, she wondered if she’d actually have to, checking her watch again and seeing it was shortly after two a.m., the ghost not having made an appearance so far.

She feared though that it might just wait for her to fall asleep, and so, forced herself to stay awake; and not long after her last glance at the watch, an eerie blue glow filled Erin’s bedroom, and immediately, Holtzmann came to her feet and grabbed the pistols, rushing to the bedroom.

The ghost apparently didn’t notice her approach, threatening Erin again with death and destruction, telling her it would kill the whole team if she didn’t fire them; Holtzmann snarled “Speaking of _fire_ ”, and while the ghost was still turning to glare at her, she pulled both triggers at once, Erin diving for cover as the bright proton streams shot from the barrels and lit up the room.

The ghost screeched, and the splatters of ectoplasm which stained the physicist’s carpet moments later showed that Holtzmann was hurting it; before the streams could take the apparition apart though fully, the ghost vanished, only to reappear in front of the engineer, eyes glowing red now, filled with hatred and malice.

“I’ll kill you first”, the apparition snarled, and Holtzmann had a second to regret that the pistols had hurt the ghost, but hadn’t bound it – then the ghost backhanded her, hard, hard enough to send her flying, the cacophony of splintering wood when she hit the living room table and it broke beneath her mixing with the cry she heard from the bedroom as Erin shouted her name.

She heard the ghost cackle, but it didn’t try to stop Erin as the physicist came running from the bedroom – _probably so she’ll see it kill me_ , Holtzmann dully thought to herself, struggling to stay conscious as the world spun around her; for a moment, she felt hurt when Erin just ran past her… then she realized what the redhead was going for, and croaked out “careful”, just as Erin pulled on the Ghost Puncher.

She let out a wordless battle cry as she slammed her fist forward, the ghost crying out again when the bright ball of energy this caused hit it, more ectoplasm dripping from it and to the floor, Erin only feeling braver when she realized that she could hurt it, as well.

All at once, the fear and terror this ghost had caused her for the past twenty-seven years flared up as bright and righteous anger, and she grit her teeth as she went after it, for once in her life not afraid of it; she slammed her fist forward again, and when the energy hit and the ghost howled in pain again, her anger only grew.

“This is for terrifying me for twenty-seven years!” she yelled, with another hit, the ghost shrieking again, and she found herself wondering if the fact that she no longer feared it helped with defeating it, as well, “and this is for hurting me, and Holtzmann, and threatening her!”

She punched again, and again the hit landed; and when she performed the move for the fifth time, the ghost exploded with a final pained cry, ectoplasm splattering everywhere and drenching both Holtzmann and her, but even though it was cold and sticky and smelled bad, Erin couldn’t have cared less in this very moment.

She dropped the Ghost Puncher, momentarily not sure if this was a smart move or if it might damage the weapon or maybe make it explode; when it hit the carpet with a soft _thunk_ thought and nothing else happened, she forgot all about it as she rushed to where Holtzmann was struggling to sit up, the physicist kneeling down next to her, sounding highly worried now when she asked the engineer if she was hurt.

“Nah”, Holtzmann reassured her, hoping she was telling no lie; there appeared to be no blood, and while her back and shoulders hurt from where she had landed on the table, it didn’t feel as if anything was broken or dislocated, “just bruised. My body and my ego. I really should have thought to make the pistols bind that ghost and not just hurt it.”

She grimaced, then valiantly held back a wince as Erin threw both arms around her and hugged her tight; belatedly, the physicist realized that this might not be the smartest move, what with Holtzmann probably having bruised her back, and pulled back, blushing, but unable to hold back a smile as she brought up one hand to tenderly run her fingertips along Holtzmann’s jaw, earning a smile from the engineer as response to the tender gesture.

“Thank you”, Erin said, unable to keep a tremble out of her voice, “that ghost is gone and it’s all thanks to your team and you so… thank you. And also I’d… I’d like to kiss you again now. If that’s okay, if you’re not in too much pain or dizzy or—”

Holtzmann leaned forward and cut her off by pressing her lips to the physicist’s, interrupting her in the sweetest way possible; immediately, Erin kissed her back, wrapping both arms around her again, mindful to not embrace her too tight this time though, not wanting to end up hurting her again on accident.

The kiss deepened quickly, and it went on and on, until they had to pull apart for air; and as they sat there, both covered in stinky ectoplasm, Holtzmann with her bruised back and Erin with her black eye, they smiled at each other, the physicist suddenly just sure that from this day onwards, her life would only get better.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is NSFW ;)

Holtzmann had kept her promise and had taken Erin out on a date, and it had been every bit as lovely as Erin had hoped it would be; what she had been looking forward to even more though was the moment she’d get to invite Holtzmann up to her home after the date, and now, this moment had finally arrived, and it was just as good as Erin had hoped.

Already in the elevator, they had been making out, only having stopped long enough so Erin could unlock the apartment door; the moment they had both made it inside, they were kissing deeply again, Erin with her back against the door, unable to stifle a moan as she pulled Holtzmann as close as it was possible.

“Erin”, Holtzmann brought out between kisses, somehow retaining enough of her self-control to bring up something she had been thinking about quite a bit ever since Erin had told her that their kiss had been her first real one, the engineer easily having figured out what this probably meant about the physicist’s sex life, “we, um, we can take this slow, I won’t mind if you…”

“Holtz”, Erin interrupted her, and the lust the engineer could hear in her voice sent a bolt of heat right to her core, “I’m thirty-five years old. I haven’t had an orgasm _ever_ in my life. Don’t tell me you want to wait.”

One of her hands slid from the other woman’s back between her legs as she spoke, and _squeezed_ ; Holtzmann found herself unable to hold back a moan in response, and the noise made Erin weak in the knees, the blonde’s reaction showing her that she had made the right decision when she had spoken and acted so bluntly.

Had it been someone else, she might have held back more, might not have said so directly what was on her mind; Holtzmann already had seen her at her worst though, after the ghost had attacked her physically and she’d had a bit of a meltdown, and now, all she wanted was to make love to the engineer, make Holtzmann be the first person she’d share this with, the connection she had with the other woman feeling so right and good that she couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else.

“Take me to the bedroom”, she said once as Holtzmann moved to kiss her throat, sending shivers up and down her spine, “and show me what I’ve been missing.”

“More than gladly”, Holtzmann reassured her, then made her squeal in both surprise and delight by bending down swiftly and picking her up on her arms; the blonde winked at her, then carried her the short distance to the bedroom and lowered her onto the bed there, kissing her deeply again once Erin laid comfortably, using one hand to prop herself up over the other woman’s body while she ran the other down her side, making her shiver again with the tender touch.

Figuring that Erin wasn’t too big on foreplay in this very moment, Holtzmann moved her hand between the other woman’s legs fairly quickly, letting it slide beneath Erin’s skirt, and even though she knew how eager Erin was for this, she still was somewhat surprised at the warm wetness she encountered, feeling it even through the physicist’s tights and underwear.

She applied the tiniest bit of pressure through the tights, and immediately, Erin moaned, the noise muffled by Holtzmann’s mouth on hers; eager to make her feel even better, the engineer increased the pressure a bit, and Erin’s hips bucked, the reaction so strong that it surprised Holtzmann almost as much as the height of her arousal had.

Part of her wanted to make this slow and tender, make it the best first time anyone could have wished for; she could tell though how much Erin wanted this, and that taking it slow would only end up frustrating the redhead, and so, Holtzmann figured that she might as well make the second orgasm she’d give Erin the best she’d ever had.

Erin lifted her hips in silent encouragement, and Holtzmann reacted quickly, pulling her skirt, tights and underwear down all at once; she pulled back from the kiss to run her tongue over Erin’s throat, having picked up on how well the redhead had reacted to this back in the hallway, while she slowly moved one finger through the other woman’s folds, feeling oddly proud at the impressive amount of wetness she encountered.

Her thumb moved to press down on Erin’s clit, and that was all it took to make Erin fall apart.

She let out a shockingly loud moan, hips twitching again as her fingers clung to the sheets she laid on; Holtzmann moved her thumb again, just the tiniest bit, and Erin cried out “Oh God _Holtz”_ , her eyes actually rolling back in her head before they closed, her breath coming in short, heavy bursts, and she needed a minute to recover.

Then, she smiled widely as she opened her eyes again and her gaze met Holtzmann’s; the engineer grinned back at her, pleased with herself, then made Erin groan by pulling back her hand and slowly licking her finger clean, perfectly aware of the effect this had on the other woman.

And still it surprised her when, pretty much out of nowhere, Erin grabbed her and flipped her onto her back, with a burst of strength Holtzmann certainly hadn’t expected – and especially not after she had made Erin come like that literally a minute ago; the physicist smiled at her, then kissed her deeply, and when she pulled back to whisper in her ear, it was Holtzmann’s turn to find herself unable to hold back a moan.

“You know”, Erin told her, cupping her breast through her shirt and prompting her to draw in a sharp breath, “I’m a big believer in equality. You just made me feel _very_ amazing, so now, I want to return the favour.”

If she was nervous about doing so, she hid it pretty well, kissing Holtzmann again; having her take control like this turned the engineer on beyond reason, and it didn’t take long until she was moaning loudly as well, unaware of how much more pleasure this night would bring.

* * *

“Good morning”, Erin practically trilled as she entered the lab in the next morning, her overjoyed mood prompting Abby to raise an eyebrow – so far, Erin had seemed more like a morning grouch to her, addicted to coffee, but then, Abby figured, with the ghost gone, Erin probably got proper sleep each night now, and this had to be the reason why she was in such a good mood.

Then, Holtzmann came into the lab, and looked so tired, but happy that Abby immediately knew why Erin was in such a good mood, her eyes momentarily widening – before she gave the redhead a shit-eating grin, laughing at how Erin blushed in response.

“Had a good date night, huh”, the brunette then teased, making Erin grin as well and nod; then, she put down her bag before she let the others know she’d get coffee, and the moment she was out the door, Holtzmann said “oh God” and sank onto the nearest chair, only to yelp, making Abby laugh again.

“Okay”, Holtzmann said once she had gotten more or less comfortable, sore as she was, “I wasn’t quite sure what to expect? But I certainly didn’t expect this. She’s insatiable, Abby. Best night of my life.”

She could have said more, could have told Abby that, thanks to the ghost, Erin never had had any chance for any sexual experience, not even on her own, the ghost having interrupted the few tries she had dared to make; and she could have said that clearly, Erin had been eager to make up for all this lost time last night, but the physicist meant too much to her to let her say these things out loud, and judging from the grin on Abby’s face, the brunette could easily tell at least some of these things without Holtzmann having to say them out loud.

“Congrats”, Abby said instead of voicing any thoughts she might have about the topic, “I’m happy for you. For both of you. Poor Erin, she’s been through enough, she deserves some good times in her life now.”

“And I’ll make sure she’ll have them”, Holtzmann smirked, and with another laugh, Abby raised her hand for a high-five; Holtzmann smacked her palm with a grin of her own, then made herself focus on her work the best she could after the night she’d had, feeling content and good, the knowledge that Erin felt the same only making her feel better.


	14. Epilogue

Already when the door was opened, Holtzmann could tell that the most recent client of the team was nervous; the middle-aged woman gave her an unabashed once-over, clearly not sure what to think of her, then her eyes moved to the blonde’s companion, and she looked a bit placated.

“Doctor Holtzmann?” she still asked, making Holtzmann nod; with another nervous look, the woman stepped aside and let them enter, leading the way to the living room, offering them a seat and something to drink, clearing her throat nervously once they both had sat down on the couch.

“I’ll get Simone”, she then said, earning a brief nod; she hurried off, and Holtzmann looked around the room while they waited for the lady to come back with her daughter, something which didn’t take long, the girl looking at them shyly.

“Hello”, Holtzmann was the first to greet her, smiling, “I’m Holtzmann, we’re here to help with your ghost problem.”

“I’m Erin”, Erin added, the girl looking from Holtzmann to her, still appearing shy, but not frightened, her eyes going wide at what the physicist said next, “I work with Holtzmann here. When I was your age, I got haunted, too, you know?”

She didn’t say that she had been haunted for twenty-seven years, not wanting to frighten the girl even more; clearly, Simone was obviously relieved that Erin and Holtzmann believed her about being haunted, and the physicist didn’t want to ruin this by telling her about that gruesome period of her life.

“We thought she’s making it up at first”, Simone’s mother threw in, Erin holding back her dismay about these words, telling herself that this was probably a reasonable reaction for someone who had no idea that ghosts were real, “but then I… I saw it too, and my husband a night later. We didn’t know what to do at first, whom to call, then I saw your ad in the paper… you’ve done this before?”

“Yes”, Holtzmann reassured her, “my team has observed and destroyed a total of seventeen ghosts, four of those in the past three months, since Dr Gilbert here joined our team. She’s a brilliant physicist and has made our equipment much more efficient.”

She started to explain what they would do, how they would observe the ghost at first with their recording equipment to determine what sort of class they were dealing with and what they would need to get rid of it; the elder woman listened with interest while Simone kept her focus on Erin, the redhead’s revelation that she had been haunted as well when she had been a kid clearly having prompted the kid to trust her quickly.

“We’ll set up in your daughter’s room, if it’s fine with you”, Holtzmann finished her explanations, making the girl’s mother nod; she led the way, Holtzmann right behind her with the equipment duffel bag and Erin behind the engineer, the blonde quickly finding the best spot for the recording equipment and starting to set up, Erin not trying to intervene, knowing that this was done faster and more efficient when Holtzmann did it on her own.

“You know”, she said as she watched the engineer work, a by now familiar tingle running up and down her spine at how nimble the blonde’s fingers moved, connecting wires to the camera and the audio recording device, “I never thought that leaving Columbia to work with you guys was a bad decision, but these cases… these children who go through what I went through… it only makes me realize all over again that it was the right thing to do.”

“Yay”, Holtzmann smiled at her, making her smile back, “I’d feel bad forever if you’d regret doing this.”

“I haven’t regretted it a single second”, Erin reassured her, moving closer to touch her back; Holtzmann smiled at her, then focused on her work again, and Erin watched her work, smiling to herself, feeling happy and content, and knowing that she had made the right choice when she had left Columbia to work with Holtzmann, certain that her life would only keep getting better, with the ghost gone for good and people who loved her and cared for her in her life now.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another one done :) I hope you had fun reading this - stay tuned for my next fic (because of course, haha) :D


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